The President spoke to America’s students as they begin the school year. I’ve been asked 3,000 times today what all the fuss was about. Why was talk radio and the TV talking heads going full-speed, damn the torpedoes, take no prisoners on… the President’s message to school children that they are responsible for showing up. Doing their homework. Behaving themselves.
And the answer is: I have no idea.
I’m not going to try to speak for them. I’m going to speak for myself as a Utah teacher. I loved President Obama’s speech to school children. I got tears in my eyes when he reminded them that we’ve been struggling with the proper ways to hold teachers accountable for being good teachers and to hold parents accountable for being good parents and hold politicians accountable for being good policy makers. But that there’s one group we sometimes forget to hold accountable for doing what they’re supposed to do. Students.
I loved that this message was delivered by a messenger who has walked this talk. He said, “No excuses.” He said, “Maybe you don’t have two parents raising you. Neither did I.” He said, “Maybe you don’t have enough money in your family for everything you want. Neither did I.”
He told them, “I’m here because I took my education seriously.”
Loved it. Loved it. Loved it. But I loved even more what he didn’t say. I’m not sure he meant to speak to little ole’ me personally. But he did. I heard him call me by name, and say, “Teacher, no excuses for you either.”
I listened to him tell kids not to whine about what they didn’t have, and to take what they did have, and make it work for them. I thought about all the times I would complain about my sky-high class size (39 5th graders one year). There was the year we had one set of History books to share among four teachers, wheeling them from class to class on a cart. Then I thought about No Excuses.
I heard him call me out as a parent. I’ve raised two sons. They were not easy children (Of course, I’ve never met the mythical Easy Child). My husband and I worked hard balancing our jobs and paying bills. We were both putting ourselves through college when our son was born. There was our own homework to do and the second job to make ends meet. But No Excuses, Mom and Dad. You’re busy. You’re broke. No Excuses, parents, for not putting your kids first and setting an expectation that they’ll do their homework. For turning off the TV and the video game and opening a book with them and putting them to bed at a decent hour. No Excuses.
The president reminded our kids that when they stop caring about their education, they are letting themselves down. He went further. He told them they were letting down their future families who would be counting on them. He went further. He told them they were letting down their country.
The President did not exaggerate. Our kids are 100% of our country’s future. Without an education, those kids have no future. Without those kids – every blessed one of them – our country has no future.
I loved the message the President sent to our students. But I am inspired by the unspoken message he had for me. I am a teacher. I am a parent. So, I have a very important job. I must not let down my students. I must not let down my country.
Life isn’t perfect. We don’t always have what we need. What we want. That doesn’t matter. I will do whatever it takes to give the children in my care everything I have to give. And then I will find some way to give them more. No Excuses.